SignerJ Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 I'm involved in martial arts, and the honorifics "sir" and "m'am" are used very often in responding to people, such as by saying "yes, m'am" or "no, sir." In fact, technically, virtually anything you say to a higher rank should have one of the two honorifics included somewhere. But I've encountered a problem. As you might have noticed, is that there is no gender-neutral honorific...Does anyone else know of a gender-neutral honorific that would be equivalent to "sir" or "m'am," preferably in both usage and level of respect?? I haven't been able to think of one, no matter how much I've tried, and I can definitely see this becoming a problem in the future. I can't very well stop using honorifics, but I don't want to accidentally misgender people, either... Link to post Share on other sites
LadyErzsebet Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 I've seen lists of such things on the internet but my problem has always been that since they are so new (in many cases) and only known to a small community, many people don't recognize them or immediately recognize them as a "queer" thing rather than just a neutral thing. Link to post Share on other sites
FoxEars Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Short of overly-specific ones (e.g. 'your majesty') I can't really think of any. If you mix 'sir' backwards with 'ma'am' you get 'mraiasm'. That would make a pretty cool gender-neutral one. But I mean, it's not actually a thing, so. I dunno. ^ FoxEars ^ Link to post Share on other sites
Star Bit Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 I found Sai and Ser at the bottom of the gender neutral titles wiki. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 mx. is used alongside mr. ms. etc. something like senior, elder, teacher etc. might be appropriate for the setting? Link to post Share on other sites
Kappamaki Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 I'm supposing this will be a term you'll ask to be referred to by? I personally use terms from fantasy/scifi settings in real life when it comes down to it. Um... in the Free Marches in Thedas, the setting of Dragon Age, people use "serah" (sometimes "ser") as a gender-neutral honorific for people of equal or lesser rank, whom in everyday life I take to be absolutely everybody (America has no nobility, and the plutocrats don't deserve extra respect), with "messere" as a gender-neutral honorific for those of a higher social rank (so, no one). People, oddly enough, tend not to question my use of "serah" and "ser." If this is a Japanese martial art you're talking about, you can nab Japanese terms like "sensei" and "senpai." They're gender-neutral, and there are likely equivalent terms in whatever language would be appropriate. Link to post Share on other sites
SignerJ Posted August 18, 2015 Author Share Posted August 18, 2015 I'm supposing this will be a term you'll ask to be referred to by? I personally use terms from fantasy/scifi settings in real life when it comes down to it. Um... in the Free Marches in Thedas, the setting of Dragon Age, people use "serah" (sometimes "ser") as a gender-neutral honorific for people of equal or lesser rank, whom in everyday life I take to be absolutely everybody (America has no nobility, and the plutocrats don't deserve extra respect), with "messere" as a gender-neutral honorific for those of a higher social rank (so, no one). People, oddly enough, tend not to question my use of "serah" and "ser." If this is a Japanese martial art you're talking about, you can nab Japanese terms like "sensei" and "senpai." They're gender-neutral, and there are likely equivalent terms in whatever language would be appropriate. I might ask to be referred to by it. I'm not sure. The main problem for me is that I used to use "sir" and "m'am" when talking to people I don't know, but since that has a high risk of misgendering somebody, I'd rather replace those two with a single catch-all gender neutral version. (If what I just wrote makes sense?) Sadly, the Japanese stuff won't work, since it's a Korean martial art, but I think that "ser" could... I'll try it out and see how it sounds. Thanks for the suggestion! (And thanks to Star Bit, too. I've looked online, but I somehow never stumbled across the wiki!) Link to post Share on other sites
VindicatorPhoenix Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 mx. is used alongside mr. ms. etc. something like senior, elder, teacher etc. might be appropriate for the setting? I was also thinking "Mx." I believe it's pronounced as either "mix" or "mux." Lots of great ideas from everyone, by the way, keep them coming! :) Link to post Share on other sites
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